


Ad Infinitum

by alexzyuy



Category: Merlin (TV), Merlin - Fandom
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Gen, Magic Revealed, Things That Live In Caves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2020-03-01 10:10:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18798229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexzyuy/pseuds/alexzyuy
Summary: In which Arthur gets trapped in a cave that won't let him leave, a secret gets revealed, and a candlestick is Merlin's multi-functional weapon of choice.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything in quite a while. This fic is one that I started when the dinosaurs roamed the earth and never got around to finishing. It has been dusted off, reworked -sometimes reading my own old fanfics makes me cringe-, and will hopefully get finished. I loved this show.

Arthur woke up and then immediately wished he hadn’t. Everything hurt, as if his senses were trying to make up for lost time. He had no idea where he was, how long he’d been unconscious, or more importantly why he was in such pain. He opened his eyes, which was a wasted effort as he could see nothing but inky blackness. He was probably going to die here, wherever this was, alone and in the dark. It was not a particularly pleasant thought, so it was a bit of a relief when the distant sound of someone humming gave him something else to think about. After a moment’s consideration, he slowly reached for his sword. He would get up, look menacingly at whoever was coming, maybe say something daring in a commanding manner, and hope they wouldn’t realize that he was so very close to passing out. 

It was a great plan, really, except for the small rather minor fact that he had no sword. It was not in its usual place at his belt, nor was it within reach of his hands. This was a problem. Furthermore, he could not get up because his legs were simply not cooperating with him. You can look intimidating without a sword, but it is nearly impossible to do so while lying helpless on the ground.  
The humming stopped only to be replaced by the sound of footsteps. Arthur slowed his breathing and braced himself for whatever might happen next. 

“Hello! I see you’re awake now.” The voice echoed from somewhere behind him.

That was unexpected, though it did figure that he would be here.

“Merlin?” He asked, wondering if his ears were playing tricks on him.

“Yes, sire?” Nope, his ears worked just fine.

“Where are we?”

“Trapped in a cave. A portion of the ceiling collapsed.” It made sense now. He must have been injured by the falling rubble.

“Since you are walking around, can I assume that you are unhurt?”

“Mostly.” Was his annoyingly vague answer. He got the strange feeling that Merlin was upset with him.

“You haven’t, by any change, done anything useful while I was asleep have you? Like found a way out, perhaps?” After a moment, he added. “And where is my sword?” He didn’t feel right without it.

“I’m working on it. As for your sword, I moved it.”

“Then will you kindly move it back?” These terse little answers of Merlin’s were beginning to irritate him.

“No. I think it is safest where it is.”

“Look, Merlin, I wasn’t….”and stopped when a light suddenly sprang into existence, a light that emanated from his servant’s palm. He watched in stunned silence as the other boy muttered a word and the whole of the cavern became illuminated. “You…. How are you...”

“I’m a sorcerer.” Merlin did the surprising and sat down next to him. “A rotten, lying, two-faced, backstabbing, sorcerer.” He continued bluntly. 

Then, Arthur hurt for an entirely different reason all together and covered it up quickly with outrage. He’d considered Merlin a friend and a good one although he’d never tell him that, wouldn’t want it to go to his head. They’d even fought a dragon together…. okay well, he’d fought the dragon and Merlin had managed not to die, but it was the same thing. They were comrade in arms and he’d been lying to him from the very beginning.  
Also, it wasn’t fair how he’d stolen all the words that had come to mind and said them first. It left him gaping with nothing to say. He probably looked like a fish. 

“Did I miss anything?” Merlin sounded oddly hopeful.

“Actually, yes, you did.” He let loose a few choice words when a new and horrible idea struck him. “Is that why you took my sword? Is my present condition also your doing? Could you find no easier way to kill me?” He asked coldly. 

“For the last time, I don’t want to kill you. I’ve done nothing but try to help you. Entering this cave was your idea. We were hunting, remember?”

Arthur did not remember. His last memories were of getting ready for bed the night before. He shook his head and tried to concentrate on more important issues like the fact that he was stuck in a cave with a traitorous sorcerer who’d stolen his sword. And there was a word he hadn’t said yet… traitor.  
He picked up where he left off only to stop again several minutes later because where Merlin should have looked scared or repentant, or at the very least worried, he merely looked indifferent. He was also drawing a shapes in the sand that covered the cave floor with what appeared to be a silver candlestick. 

“Am I boring you, Merlin?” He thought it was heroic the way he was keeping his temper in check. 

His servant coughed, looked guilty for a second and replied, “I am sorry. It is just that this is the tenth time I’ve heard this “speech” and it does get a tad old after a while. I assure you that the first time we went through this I was suitably cowed. I might even have cried.” 

“You cried? What did I say?” The situation was rapidly devolving into the ridiculous. If it weren’t for the pain in his side, a sure sign that he’d broken a rib or two, he’d have written this whole thing off as a bad dream ages ago. Arthur decided that the only sane thing to do, at this point, was to focus on one weird statement made by Merlin at a time and see how it went from there. 

“It’s not really what you said, it’s more like what you did.” He pulled up his shirt to reveal an angry red line that traveled across his chest. “You tried to kill me.” 

“That’s it?” It looked more like he’d scratched himself, and he certainly did not remember attacking Merlin. “Besides, if I had tried to kill you, you’d be dead…none of this walking around barely looking injured stuff.”

“It bled a lot.” He continued indignantly. “Plus, it’s been hours or days since then.”

“Hours or days? Which one?”

“I don’t know. It’s anyone’s guess how long we’ve been here. Every time I figure out how to escape, everything goes black and we wind up right in this particular spot. Only I, unlike you, retain my memories of previous attempts.”

“Why’s that?”

“I must be special.” Merlin shrugged and gave him a small grin. 

It was almost like old times. They were in yet another terrible mess and he was trying to be funny. He didn’t say anything in return, but shot him a look to show that he was not amused. Now was not the time for comedic relief. His glare worked because the expression on Merlin’s face became serious. He watched as his servant/sorcerer tilted his head to side as if listening to something. 

“Arthur, I know I’m not your favorite person right now, but we need to leave this area and fast. Is it okay… Can I….?” He sounded panicked now, which was unusual as everything seemed to be the same as it had been ten minutes ago. 

“Look, just help me up.” It was embarrassing that he couldn’t get to his feet without assistance. 

“I can’t believe I forgot about them.” This was but one of the things Merlin mumbled under his breath as he slowly pulled him to his feet.

“You mean we’re not alone in here?”

His question was answered by the ominous sound of hundreds of small feet scurrying towards them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my bestest of best friends for beta-ing this chapter for me. You're awesome!

They were speeding down an ever narrowing tunnel, a bright ball of light bobbing along in front of them. 

“What is making that noise?” Arthur demanded. It came out as a whisper. In his defense, it was getting hard to breathe and Merlin was practically dragging him down the passage way. 

“If we hurry, sire, you won’t have to find out.” The sorcerer tightened his grip on his shoulders and picked up their pace. 

After a few minutes, when he realized that Merlin really wasn’t going to tell him anything about their current situation, he muttered, “You know, I used to have this thing called a sword. It is sad that I don’t have it now, because I find it helpful in times like these.”

“We are almost there.”

“And there is?”

“Could we possibly not talk? This is not as easy it looks. It’s like carrying the world’s most annoying sack of potatoes.”

Arthur took a deep breath, or at least tried to, and let it out slowly. There were so many things out of his control at the moment- he couldn’t stand on his own, the mystery creature chasing them, being trapped underground- that strangling Merlin would just have to wait. Priorities, and all that. 

He stowed away his more homicidal thoughts in a box marked Soon, and decided to tackle a more immediate problem. 

“I wonder if you’ve noticed, Merlin that the walls are getting closer together. I’ve noticed; more specifically, my arm has noticed. It would be nice if at the end of this, I have still some skin left.” 

“I am doing my best. Really, my absolute best,” he pleaded. “Can’t you just trust that I…”

“You want me trust you? Now?” He let out a sharp laugh and winced. “You’re funny, but maybe you should save the jokes for later.” 

He felt the hands holding him up flinch and ignored it.

Merlin’s only response was a low and grumbled. “Seriously, a large, heavy, headache inducing sack of potatoes.” 

Arthur glared but said nothing. He was son of Uther, future King of Camelot, and responding to cracks about his weight was beneath him. 

A small silence drifted over them, as he concentrated on not falling on his face. Merlin had stopped grumbling things under this breath, but judging by the look on his face, he was definitely still thinking mutinous thoughts. That is not to say that their race down the tunnel was quiet. The shuffling patter of running feet was becoming deafening. 

Then suddenly, and seemingly at random, Merlin flung them through a well-hidden entrance to another one of the cave’s chambers. They landed in a heap on the sandy floor.

 

It would have been nice to have opened his eyes and found himself somewhere soft, like in bed. Instead, he was once again on the ground, only this time there was something heavy and sharp digging into his ribs. There was also the worrisome fact that something was on top of him. 

Merlin was, as usual, the cause of both of his problems. “Could you move?” 

His servant remained where he was, slumped over him. “You can move, right? Merlin?”

No answer. Arthur couldn’t even shove him off properly, because his arms had somehow gotten awkwardly pinned behind him. 

“I swear if we die like this because you can’t be bothered to move, I will never forgive you.”

“Great! We can add it to the list.” 

“What list?”

“The list of things you’ll never forgive me for. It’s getting to be quite long. We may need more parchment.” 

Was Merlin laughing? He was at the very least sounding a bit hysterical. “Or we could hire a scribe to make it official and fancy. Or..or, we could forego parchment altogether and chisel it on a really big rock.”

“Merlin, did you hit your head?”

“What? Not recently, no. I am just tired, everything hurts, and this is surprisingly comfortable.”

“This is the opposite of comfortable. I am being squished. And whatever you have in your coat pocket is seriously hurting me.”

“Ah, sorry.” Merlin finally pushed himself off and away. “Any way, we’re safe now.”

The sorcerer had done his magic trick with the light again and Arthur could clearly see the whole of the chamber. It was big, but not as big as the first room he’d found himself in. There were some interesting rock formations hanging from the ceiling and it smelled a bit musty, as caves do. More importantly, there was only one exit, which also doubled as the entrance. 

“We are trapped. With no weapons and no other means of escape. And that, whatever it is, is almost upon us… and you think we’re safe?”

“We’ll be fine. They’ve never come in here before. Not even once.” Merlin pulled something shiny from within the folds of his coat. “And, I have this!” 

Arthur stared at the item being brandished at him. It is short, silver, and altogether totally unremarkable. “Is it, perhaps, a magic candlestick?”

“I’m not sure. It could be? Or maybe it’s just lucky? We tend to have a better time of things when I’m able to find it. And, occasionally, it comes in handy.” 

He was not sure what kind of a face he was making, but it was enough for Merlin to add, “Although, on second thought, it might be a good idea to move back a bit more.”

Arthur slowly worked his way up into a sitting position. “No, wait. I want see what we’re dealing with.”

“You always say that… and you always regret it.” Merlin sighed. “I suppose it’s not your fault that you never remember.”

“Help me up.” The ground started to shake under their feet. They hunkered down behind a rock outcropping that was close enough to the entrance so that Arthur could get a good look, but far enough away that Merlin stopped complaining. 

“Last chance, Arthur. You can’t say I didn’t warn you.”

He was momentarily startled by the serious use of his given name. “We’ve seen nasty things before. How bad can it really be?” He was about to mention that maybe Merlin was simply overreacting, when the first creature appeared. It was followed by a pale and glistening wave of hundreds of chittering insects.

Merlin was right. He was full of regret, but it was a little too late now. There were some things you just can’t unsee.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't forgotten about this story, I promise.

He couldn’t move and he couldn’t look away. There was something about the beetles? Centipedes? Demon bugs from hell that had him mesmerized. Arthur tried to concentrate on one aspect of the grotesque spectacle in front of him, in the hopes that it would break whatever hold they had on him. It didn’t work. He counted legs and got distracted by how many eyes there were. He counted eyes and got lost in the mystery of how the creatures made that horrible sound as they passed. He put his ears to the task of determining whether the chittering was caused by their bodies rubbing together as they swarmed through the tunnel, or by some other insidious means, when the smell hit him. The stench was of death, rot and decay… and now he couldn’t breathe. 

A hand slipped over his eyes and he felt himself being dragged gently backwards.

It was on the tip of his tongue to thank Merlin. Sorcerer or not, he’d still be there gaping like an idiot or worse, if not for his intervention. And Merlin had pulled him back instead of pushing him into their path, so there was that too.

“Seriously, every time! I say don’t look at the the nasty insects. And you do. Every time. Sometimes, I think you like watching them.”

All his feelings of gratitude died. He shook off Merlin’s hands and took a deep breath. The smell wasn’t nearly as bad in the back of the cavern. Arthur moved so that his back was against the rough rocky wall of the cavern. He felt better knowing that at least nothing could come at him from that direction. He also, really, really missed his sword.

So, what now?”

“We wait.” His servant looked unfairly comfortable, having settled himself on the ground a few feet away. 

“Wait? That’s it?”

“We could talk? I’m sure you have questions.” Merlin sounded hopeful.

Arthur stared at him. “I don’t want to talk. I want to get out of here.”

The other boy sighed, “Waiting is best. Nothing good comes from fighting them.”

“I mean, can you not just…..”, he wiggled his fingers at Merlin.

“You want me to use magic?”

The words left him before he had time to think about them properly, “Yes.” Visions of the insect parade were still bouncing around his head. 

He broke the ensuing silence by adding, “Only on the bugs, though.”

“No.” 

“I am giving you actual, royal permission to use magic to save our lives… and you say no?” This conversation wasn’t going the way he expected. 

“I know you are having a hard time believing what I say right now, but please know that I am being entirely truthful when I tell you that the very best thing to do right now is to wait for them to leave.” He hunched over and wrapped his arms around his knees as if bracing for Arthur’s response. 

“If I had my sword, I could do something. There may be a lot of them, but at the end of the day they’re just overgrown beetle…things. I can kill beetles. You can kill beetles. Maybe even without magic. Just aim for the squishy parts.” His call to battle suffered a bit at the end as he tried to picture a way to attack the creatures without actually looking at them. 

“We can’t though! Not me, with my magic. Not you, with your sword. We’ve tried before and we never make it. We always fail. And I always, always am unable to do anything but watch you fall to those things. I can’t go through that again.” Merlin’s voice is small, angry, but mostly sad. 

And suddenly, Arthur is engulfed in a memory.

_He is angry, maybe the angriest he’s ever been in his whole life. He is also covered in bug guts. Merlin is yelling something at him again, but he can’t hear anything but the sound his sword makes as it slices through the next insect. There is seemingly no end to them, but Arthur is okay with that. He doesn’t have to think about Merlin, about his lies, only about how to survive the next attack. A small break in the onslaught of legs and fangs allows him to catch his breath, and the sorcerer’s voice comes through loud and clear. He sounds scared….and is he crying? He’s not sure why Merlin would be crying. Isn’t this what he wants? A dead prince, and he didn’t even have to lift a finger. However, it is enough of a puzzle that he doesn’t notice the stinger until it is too late. His arm is on fire and even though he kills the insect the stinger is connected to, the venom is still traveling through his veins. It slows him down, weighs him down. He can’t run and he can’t hold them off. A fang pierces through chainmail and fabric and into his upper thigh. He falls and all he knows is pain and pain and pain._

He shuddered. It was only a memory, not even a memory, because it hadn’t happened. He patted his leg, the one that’d been bitten, and it was still there, still in one piece. A quick assessment of the rest of him came back with the same result, sore, tired, bruised, but definitely not torn apart by hundreds of rampaging insects.

“Sire?”

He must have been lost in the not-memories for some time, because Merlin was now standing next to him, looking concerned.

“Alright.”

“Alright? You mean you’re alright? That’s great, because you stopped moving. Like a statute. I thought maybe you’d been……”

Arthur cut him off, “I am not alright.” He sighed. “I meant alright as in I’ll wait.”

The expression of relief on the sorcerer’s face was almost painful. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” He offered no explanation as to why he’d changed his mind. Instead, he glared at Merlin until the other boy moved back to his previous location. Once the sorcerer was at a somewhat safer distance, Arthur sat down. There was no reason to stand the entire time.

So, he waited. And waited… and became increasingly more annoyed.

The decision to stay put until the threat had passed was a sound one, but it was also a boring one. Merlin was back to doodling shapes in the sand with that stupid candlestick, like a child, but at least he had something to do.

He cleared his throat. Nothing happened.

He coughed. Merlin didn’t even look up.

“Didn’t you want to talk?” This came out louder than he’d meant it to.

His voice, echoing slightly through the cavern, startled Merlin into dropping his candlestick.

“Sir?”

“I have questions. Apparently, you have answers. Let’s get on with it.”

“You want to talk to me?”

“Really, Merlin. Am I mumbling? Are you quite sure you didn’t hit your head?” He peered across the cavern at the other boy, as if it was possible to see any bumps from that distance.

“It’s just….you never….” He stopped and then started again, “Yes, definitely! We can talk. I can explain everything! Mostly.”

The shift in the sorcerer’s mood was alarming. “Why do you sound so happy?” he asked warily. 

“Because this is new!” Merlin grinned.


End file.
